Well, isn’t this a turn up for the books? Hopefully I’m not jinxing him, but it would seem that Obama is still making headway, towards becoming the next American president.

Barack Obama took a big step toward the Democratic presidential nomination with an easy victory in North Carolina on Tuesday, and Hillary Clinton vowed to keep her struggling campaign alive after narrowly winning Indiana.

The results helped Obama widen his lead over Clinton in the gruelling Democratic duel for the right to face Republican John McCain in November’s presidential election with just six nominating contests remaining.

Both candidates looked ahead to contests next week in West Virginia and May 20 in Oregon and Kentucky, but Clinton was nearly out of opportunities to change the course of the race.

“We have seen that it’s possible to overcome the politics of division and distraction, that it’s possible to overcome the same old negative attacks that are always about scoring points and never about solving our problems,” Obama said at a victory rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I’ve finally decided that he would be the better leader, not Hillary. Hillary would be far too divisive, and I think that if she won the Democratic race, Old Man McCain would be the next US president by default. Mind you, the same could happen with Obama, but I’m more certain it would happen with Clinton.

I know how shallow this is, but I think it would be hard to deny that his looks would be an asset. Don’t look at me like that, why do you think Bill Clinton did so well?

One of the reasons I voted for the Conservative representative in our recent local elections, is because I really don’t want Gordon ‘I’m not fit to lick Tony Blair’s boots’ Brown to represent my country. It would be like having John Major in office again. Dull, drab, and no personality. Blair had his faults, but at least he looked like a leader.

Shallow much? Hell yeah. They’re all much of the same muchness, but I’d prefer the prettier version, over the staid crusty number cruncher anyday.

I’m with Jaci on the charisma factor. He’s young, he’s fresh and more importantly he’s “different.” It’s been a Clinton or Bush in the White House for The. Last. Sixteen. Years. Hillary’s been harping on “experience,” but the idea of somebody “new” appeals to a great many people.

Considering that the price of gas per gallon is creeping towards $4, I do think it is time for a change.

I am tired of Hilary. I used to feel sorry for her when the whole Monica thing happened, but the blatant clinging on to Bil just to use him for this nomination/election bid makes me ill. I mean, where was she after the planes hit the WTC? She didn’t show up until days later when the media was there for Bush’s visit. Kripe, she is a NY Senator, she should have been there immediately if not the next day. I can’t take her on any level.

Yeah, I like Obama too. I am curious to hear him debate McCain, whom I haven’t heard from since this mess began. I truly haven’t made anyu decision on who to vote for, but I know I refuse to vote for Hilary.

My partner and I are proud Obama supporters. I always thought Hillary was the more political, the more contriving of the two Clintons. Bill seems like a guy you can have a beer with. Hillary is like my former mother-in-law who looked down her nose at me because I grew up working class poor. (As my dad said, we could stand on our tiptoes and still not see the poverty line.)

Birthing anything is always difficult and painful, be it a baby or an idea shift. I have hopes that when it’s all said and done things will be better.

Actually, Obama is not “different” at all. Nor is he really for change, no matter that he says it. The top 20 contributors to his war-chest are law firms and lobbyists. He has voted against citizens in a recent Class Action bill that finally made law. He didn’t have the guts to stand up for Rev. Wright who also acted as the Clinton’s “spiritual counsellor” during one of their marriage crises. The majority of the superdelegates are also behind Obama, which tells me that he is more “controllable” than Clinton.

I suppose time will see which one of us is closer to the mark, but I’m not expecting much change in the US if Obama is elected. I think he’s definitely going to be the Democratic rep because he plays very nice with Big Business (oh, haven’t any of you checked his voting record as a Senator? Or his financials?), speaks well, and is not as unstable as HRC.

Anyone who has the slightest impression that you’re going to get to the Presidency without the support of lobbyists and big business is so impressively naive, I’m a little worried about them. It’s just not going to happen. That won’t even work on the local level.

I hear that HC has had to lend $11m to aid her race. I’m pretty sure that aint good.

I think he’s definitely going to be the Democratic rep because he plays very nice with Big Business

I have to totally agree with Dee here.

He didn’t have the guts to stand up for Rev. Wright who also acted as the Clinton’s “spiritual counsellor” during one of their marriage crises.

This is politics, it would have been suicidal for him to endorse Rev Wright’s comments. His message throughout his campaign is that he is for America, not white America, or black America. His association with the rev alone caused ripples in the water. Obama is savvy enough to know that going all Jesse Jackson isn’t going to get him nominated, and quite frankly, neither should it.

I’m not American, and I feel his sincerity from over here. You can’t buy that.

Will things alter with him in the Whitehouse? Maybe, maybe not, but it must be nice to believe for the first time in a long time that a change can come.

“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

Basically she’s saying white folk won’t vote for Obama. That’s NOT RACIAL TRANSCENDENCE! Of course she’s also saying only smart and educated people vote for Obama…

For the record, I don’t think Rev. Wright is racist at all. He’s a crazy mofo… too bad what he says is wrapped up in the crazy… and he’s also one egotistic, narcissistic jackass, but– no, he’s not racist.

The whole HIV was invented by the government to kill off black folk? WHY WOULDN’T HE THINK THAT? Sure, it’s frickin’ crazy, but does anyone not remember what happened in Tuskegee? THE GOVERNMENT INTENTIONALLY LET YOUNG BLACK MEN SUFFER FROM SYPHILIS JUST SO THEY COULD STUDY THEM LIKE LAB RATS. So while Wright’s theory is crazy, it’s not UNHEARD OF as something the government might do.

Also, why isn’t anyone bugging Old Man McCain about HIS preacher? The dude is talking about Christians having the prime directive or some shit DESTROYING ISLAM. Uh… that’s not racial transcendence either.

Bernita, I think if a man spent most of his life festering in resentment and hate from injustices (both real and imagined) done to him, the “audacity of hope” just might be a little too much to believe in.

I’m with bam on this–I don’t think the reverend is a racist. I think he says extremely unpopular things, but he is a very bright man with a lot to say. We need these perspectives, and sometimes we need them in big doses thrown in our faces. This is what keeps us honest as a nation. I believe that someday we’ll look back at a lot of what he said and nod, wondering why it was so controversial. Maybe he’s not politically savvy, but that’s not his goal. This coming from a rather conservative white woman, in case that matters.

And I’m probably voting for Obama. I’m afraid I can’t get past the slick Willy factor. And for a republican, McCain is too hawkish for me. I still wonder if this is the best this country can offer?